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This feels kinda like a pump and dump to me. I don't mind articles/projects/sites that make use of bitcoins. But the frequency of posts on how much each bitcoi

by faet 14y ago

This feels kinda like a pump and dump to me. I don't mind articles/projects/sites that make use of bitcoins. But the frequency of posts on how much each bitcoin is worth feels like pennystocks/etc on an investing forum. People trying to get more people to buy in. To drive it up. So they can get out while it's high.

mikemoka 14y ago
I agree, even though the amount of bitcoins in circulation will be limited this looks too strange to be a regular trend.
oleganza 14y ago
So who and when is going to get out? And out where? To fiat currency that is controlled, inspected, can be frozen, taxed and stolen? Bitcoin grows like crazy because it is a money proved to work. It survived exchange hacks, stolen wallets, viruses, user mistakes, network-affecting software bugs and government seizures of bank deposits. It allows you to hold something in your pocket that nobody knows about and you can split it in 100 pieces and send to 100 people in different countries in a matter of seconds. Bitcoin is not a promise of future delivery. Like William Gibson said, "The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."
- TylerE 14y ago
  It'll be proven to work when you can pay taxes and buy groceries with it.
  - joonix 14y ago
    Kind of a ridiculous comment. I would buy groceries for someone and deliver them if they gave me 1 Bitcoin. I would also hand them my homegrown vegetables for a Bitcoin.
    - chii 14y ago
      sure, you (and comparatively a minor number of others) would. But as a society, bitcoins is still not an accepted form of exchange in general.
  - AdmiralBeotch 14y ago
    Pay taxes and other government debts here: http://www2.egovlink.com/press-release-bitcoin.cfm http://www2.egovlink.com/press-release-bitcoin.cfm You can already buy food at a couple places in Vegas where I live.
- niggler 14y ago
  "Bitcoin grows like crazy because it is a money proved to work." Bitcoin grows like crazy thanks to various entities of increasing credibility building an ecosystem around BTC. Like Coinbase, which I'm sure is why a lot of people here got into bitcoin. Listen for about 30 seconds of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UKC7iaBKvs#t=830s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UKC7iaBKvs#t=830s
  - codehalo 14y ago
    Coinbase is a fucking disaster.
- rmc 14y ago
  you can split it in 100 pieces and send to 100 people in different countries in a matter of seconds. No, a transaction can take from 10 minutes to an hour to complete. You may have to pay a percentage to do that aswell.
  - oleganza 14y ago
    If they trust you, it's a matter of seconds. And anyway, try to do that in 20 minutes with gold.
    - paulgb 14y ago
      If they trust you, they can do it with gold too. "I owe you an ounce of gold."
      - oleganza 14y ago
        They need to trust you for 10-20 minutes before confirmation, not forever like with borrowed piece of gold.
Atropos 14y ago
The whole "Cyprus people are getting into Bitcoin" narrative is a total lie as well. But I guess Bitcoin is a great learning opportunity for spotting Scams etc., as long as people don't lose too much money, it might even be beneficial.
- dragontamer 14y ago
  While I'd like to believe you, a link to the "Cyprus lie" would be nice. :-) I don't think "core bitcoin" users are scamming anyone. But at this point, the speed at which BTC has grown has triggered my "manipulation trigger". A decentralized currency is prone to manipulation... its not like there is an FCC out there to stop people from manipulating BTC.
  - dghughes 14y ago
    http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/03/experts-pour-cold-water-on-claim-that-cyprus-crisis-caused-bitcoin-boom/ http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/03/experts-pour-cold-wa...
    - gwern 14y ago
      That's incredibly stupid. They present no evidence, and here's the quote they lead with: > “If I was looking for a store of value, I'd buy gold, wouldn't I?” Edward Castronova, a professor of telecommunications, and an expert on virtual worlds and currencies, told Ars. “It's a hell of a lot safer than Bitcoin.” Castronova, have you ever heard of things like 'margins' or 'fungibility' or 'walking and chewing bubblegum'? You know, people can buy both bitcoins and gold - shocking as this may seem. The question is not 'are people physically on the island of Cyprus who would be buying gold instead buying bitcoins?', the question is 'on the margin, are people worldwide buying bitcoins because of Cyprus?' Nor is pointing out the recent rise an objection. The rise over the past months to $30 was relatively slow and gradual. The rise to $50 and then $105 has been meteoric and directly correlates with the sudden Cyprus crisis. Bitcoin literally started with criticism of bank failures and bailouts (check out the first block, by Nakamoto, in the blockchain) and immunity to this sort of shit is one of its main selling points. The burden of proof is on anyone who thinks that Bitcoin has suddenly just sorta accidentally tripled for no reason at all relating to Cyprus.

by faet 14y ago

mikemoka 14y ago

I agree, even though the amount of bitcoins in circulation will be limited this looks too strange to be a regular trend.

oleganza 14y ago

So who and when is going to get out? And out where? To fiat currency that is controlled, inspected, can be frozen, taxed and stolen? Bitcoin grows like crazy because it is a money proved to work. It survived exchange hacks, stolen wallets, viruses, user mistakes, network-affecting software bugs and government seizures of bank deposits. It allows you to hold something in your pocket that nobody knows about and you can split it in 100 pieces and send to 100 people in different countries in a matter of seconds. Bitcoin is not a promise of future delivery. Like William Gibson said, "The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."

TylerE 14y ago
It'll be proven to work when you can pay taxes and buy groceries with it.
- joonix 14y ago
  Kind of a ridiculous comment. I would buy groceries for someone and deliver them if they gave me 1 Bitcoin. I would also hand them my homegrown vegetables for a Bitcoin.
  - chii 14y ago
    sure, you (and comparatively a minor number of others) would. But as a society, bitcoins is still not an accepted form of exchange in general.
- AdmiralBeotch 14y ago
  Pay taxes and other government debts here: http://www2.egovlink.com/press-release-bitcoin.cfm http://www2.egovlink.com/press-release-bitcoin.cfm You can already buy food at a couple places in Vegas where I live.
niggler 14y ago
"Bitcoin grows like crazy because it is a money proved to work." Bitcoin grows like crazy thanks to various entities of increasing credibility building an ecosystem around BTC. Like Coinbase, which I'm sure is why a lot of people here got into bitcoin. Listen for about 30 seconds of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UKC7iaBKvs#t=830s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UKC7iaBKvs#t=830s
- codehalo 14y ago
  Coinbase is a fucking disaster.
rmc 14y ago
you can split it in 100 pieces and send to 100 people in different countries in a matter of seconds. No, a transaction can take from 10 minutes to an hour to complete. You may have to pay a percentage to do that aswell.
- oleganza 14y ago
  If they trust you, it's a matter of seconds. And anyway, try to do that in 20 minutes with gold.
  - paulgb 14y ago
    If they trust you, they can do it with gold too. "I owe you an ounce of gold."
    - oleganza 14y ago
      They need to trust you for 10-20 minutes before confirmation, not forever like with borrowed piece of gold.

Atropos 14y ago

The whole "Cyprus people are getting into Bitcoin" narrative is a total lie as well. But I guess Bitcoin is a great learning opportunity for spotting Scams etc., as long as people don't lose too much money, it might even be beneficial.

dragontamer 14y ago
While I'd like to believe you, a link to the "Cyprus lie" would be nice. :-) I don't think "core bitcoin" users are scamming anyone. But at this point, the speed at which BTC has grown has triggered my "manipulation trigger". A decentralized currency is prone to manipulation... its not like there is an FCC out there to stop people from manipulating BTC.
- dghughes 14y ago
  http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/03/experts-pour-cold-water-on-claim-that-cyprus-crisis-caused-bitcoin-boom/ http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/03/experts-pour-cold-wa...
  - gwern 14y ago
    That's incredibly stupid. They present no evidence, and here's the quote they lead with: > “If I was looking for a store of value, I'd buy gold, wouldn't I?” Edward Castronova, a professor of telecommunications, and an expert on virtual worlds and currencies, told Ars. “It's a hell of a lot safer than Bitcoin.” Castronova, have you ever heard of things like 'margins' or 'fungibility' or 'walking and chewing bubblegum'? You know, people can buy both bitcoins and gold - shocking as this may seem. The question is not 'are people physically on the island of Cyprus who would be buying gold instead buying bitcoins?', the question is 'on the margin, are people worldwide buying bitcoins because of Cyprus?' Nor is pointing out the recent rise an objection. The rise over the past months to $30 was relatively slow and gradual. The rise to $50 and then $105 has been meteoric and directly correlates with the sudden Cyprus crisis. Bitcoin literally started with criticism of bank failures and bailouts (check out the first block, by Nakamoto, in the blockchain) and immunity to this sort of shit is one of its main selling points. The burden of proof is on anyone who thinks that Bitcoin has suddenly just sorta accidentally tripled for no reason at all relating to Cyprus.